Pitt To Open ACC Play at No. 14 North Carolina

PITTSBURGH – Pitt baseball opens ACC play at No. 14 North Carolina with a three-game weekend series: Friday at 4 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Each game can be streamed on ACCNX through WatchESPN.
Fans can follow along with live stats and updates through Twitter. Follow @Pitt_BASE for the latest news and updates about the team.

STARTING PITCHERS

FRIDAY: RHP Matt Gilbertson (1-1, 2.87 ERA, 1.53 WHIP) | LHP Brandon Schaeffer (2-0, 2.60 ERA, 1.04 WHIP)
SATURDAY: RHP Logan Evans (2-0, 1.83 ERA, .81 WHIP) | RHP Max Carlson (1-0, 0.00 ERA, .95 WHIP)
SUNDAY: RHP Billy Corcoran (2-1, 5.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP) | RHP Connor Bovair (1-1, 2.57 ERA, 1.07 WHIP)

REIGNING ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Tatem Levins was named ACC Player of the Week in his performance at the All-American Classic last weekend.
Levins homered in all three games and posted nine RBI and a 1.231 slugging percentage.
He opened the tournament in Fayetteville, N.C. with a 2-4 performance at the plate with a solo homer and double against Army.
He had a two-run homer in the 6-5 comeback win over Ohio State.
In the 11-5 victory over Campbell, he saved his best performance last with a grand slam and two other hits, six RBI and two runs.
He was also named one of Collegiate Baseball's Players of the Week.
For the season, Levins has been an effective power hitter, with an active five-game streak with a home run.
In the last five games he has registered a .545 batting average (12-22), 12 hits, 12 RBI, 28 total bases, a 1.273 slugging percentage and .545 on-base percentage.
In the nation he ranks 13th in homers per game (.50), 14th in homers (six), 35th in slugging percentage (.822), 40th in total bases (37), 46th in RBI (17) and 54th in RBI per game (1.42).
In the ACC he ranks fifth in homers and eighth in slugging percentage.

Hottest ?????? hitter in the nation, @TatemLevins!#H2P pic.twitter.com/ixIESTKV5F
— Pitt Baseball (@Pitt_BASE) March 10, 2022

FRANKS THE HOME RUN HITTER

Brock Franks has also seen a power surge at the plate.
Only hitting one homer in his first 47 games as a Panther, Franks has hit five in the last seven games, including his first multi-home run game of his collegiate career.
In the seven-game stretch, he's registered 25 total bases, a 1.087 slugging percentage and 11 RBI.
In the nation he ranks 24th in homers and 43rd in homers per game (.42).
In the ACC he ranks tied for sixth in homers.

LAST TIME OUT-HOME RUN EXPLOSION AT HIGH POINT

Playing its fourth-straight game in the state of North Carolina on its annual spring break trip, Pitt defeated High Point 15-5 Wednesday.
Brock Franks had his first multi-home run game in his collegiate career, and Tatem Levins hit a homer for the fifth-straight game.
Leaving a batter on with no runs in each of the first four innings, Pitt erupted for a seven-run fifth.
Pitt scored all 15 runs in a row over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
The five home runs were the most since six against Grambling State in an 18-5 win on Feb. 28, 2016.
Pitt has hit a home run in all but one game this season and a combined 12 in the last five games.
The 19 hits were the most since accomplishing the feat twice in wins over No. 7 Georgia Tech last year (March 12 and March 14).
Pitt players reached base 28 times with seven walks and two hit-by-pitches.
Levins had a game-high four hits.
Bryce Hulett also reach based four times with a homer, single and two walks.
Franks and CJ Funk each went 3-5, with Franks also having a double to his two homers.
Tommy Tavarez recorded his first multi-hit game of his collegiate career along with a walk and hit-by-pitch.
Ben Dragani (1-1) picked up the win with two scoreless innings of relief, allowing one hit and three walks with five strikeouts.

THE DUFFMAN

Sky Duff had a breakout campaign in 2021, his third year in Pittsburgh, and earned spots on the All-ACC Third-Team and ABCA/Rawlings All-East Region Second Team.
Serving as the leadoff batter, Duff still has an active 33-game reached base streak started last year and currently ranks 12th in the nation in walks (14).
This season he leads the team in walks and has a .350 batting average, 14 hits and six RBI.
He recorded a nation-best nine walks and three hits on opening weekend.
Known for his ability to draw walks in his entire career, Duff has 97.
In the nation he ranked last year 14th in doubles per game (.43), 47th in doubles (18), 67th in hits per game (1.43), 83rd in batting average (.366) and 91st in on-base percentage (.461).
He was in the ACC fifth in batting average and fourth in on-base percentage and doubles.
The junior showed an improvement with his power, racking up a team-high 18 doubles.
He also hit two homers last year after recording his first career homer the previous season.

GILL ON THE HILL

Matt Gilbertson was the Panthers' "Saturday" pitcher all of last season and starts as the No. 1 pitcher this year.
With starts in the second game of each weekend series in 2021, Gilbertson posted a 6-4 record with a 1.29 WHIP, 4.45 ERA, 72 strikeouts to 20 walks and a .269 opposing batting average.
In the ACC, he ranked tied seventh in innings pitched (85.0) and ninth in wins (six), both team-highs.
Gilbertson earned the first win of the season with just one earned run, four hits and no walks with three strikeouts against Indiana State on Feb. 20.
His next start was arguably his best of the season, six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, two walks and five hits in a 7-2 win at No. 9 Florida State.
He went a career-high eight innings that included 16-straight retired batters with five strikeouts, two runs, five hits and no walks in a 6-2 series-clinching win at Virginia.
He went seven innings again with four strikeouts, one run, one hit and nine hits allowed in what ended up a 3-1 win over No. 12 Notre Dame.
He picked up his fourth win against No. 15 Miami, going seven innings with four runs, six hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
He threw all but one inning in the home win over Boston College with three strikeouts, eight hits and three walks.
He arguably saved his best for last when he threw a complete game against No. 3 seed NC State with 10 strikeouts and 22 outs in the last 22 batters faced.
In 20 career starts at Pitt, Gilbertson has accumulated 111 strikeouts to just 32 walks and gone at least five innings in all but two games.

CHASING THE CENTURY MARK FOR STOLEN BASES

Jeffrey Wehler comes to Pittsburgh after starting four years at Youngstown State.
Wehler was named the 54th-best transfer by Baseball America and No. 55 by DIBaseball.com after being named First-Team All-Horizon League last year and second-team in 2019 and 2018.
He finished his Youngstown State career ranked second in school history with 88 career steals and led his team in stolen bases each year.
He swiped his first bag as a Panther in the series-finale against Canisius and got another one in the second one against Lipscomb, needing 10 more to reach 100 in his career.
Last season he had career-bests of a .332 batting average, .390 on-base percentage, .552 slugging percentage, 53 runs, 74 hits, 27 extra-base hits, eight homers, 38 RBIs and 20 walks.

SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA

Ranked in all five major polls and as high as No. 14 by Collegiate Baseball.
Dropped its last game 1-0 at No. 14 Liberty Tuesday, but have still had a very strong start to the season at 11-2 with sweeps over then-No. 25 East Carolina, Coastal Carolina and Seton Hall.
The Tar Heels' pitching has been among the best in the nation, ranking fourth in ERA (1.63), eighth in WHIP (1.03) and 20th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.59).
Picked fifth in the Coastal Division in the ACC Coaches' Preseason Poll.
Freshman infielder/outfielder Vance Honeycutt has made an immediate impact with his speed and power, ranking in the nation fourth in steals (12) and 24th in homers (five).
Sophomore infielder Johnny Castagnozzi (1.190) and redshirt-junior outfielder Angel Zarate (1.054) are two other Tar Heels that have started every game and registered an on-base plus slugging percentage above 1.000.

ALL-TIME SERIES

North Carolina has the slight edge (12-11) in the all-time series with all 23 meetings coming as league foes.
Last year Pitt won three of four matchups, taking a home series 2-1 with a doubleheader sweep (6-2 and 3-2) on April 17 and then beating North Carolina once again 5-3 in the ACC Tournament on May 25.
The last matchup in Chapel Hill due to the COVID pandemic was in 2018, a sweep for the Tar Heels.
Since that, the Panthes won the rematch in the ACC Tournament that season on May 23 and are 6-2 in the last eight matchups.

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Pitt To Open ACC Play at No. 14 North Carolina

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Billy Corcoran

Ben Dragani

Sky Duff

Logan Evans

Brock Franks

C.J. Funk

Matt Gilbertson

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Tommy Tavarez

Jeffrey Wehler

Pitt To Open ACC Play at No. 14 North Carolina

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Billy Corcoran

Ben Dragani

Sky Duff

Logan Evans

Brock Franks

C.J. Funk

Matt Gilbertson

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Tommy Tavarez

Jeffrey Wehler

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